Patience in my Insurance Career:
For years I have been told, I need to have more “Patience in my Insurance Career” and “Be patient and one day your time will come”.
Many times at annual performance reviews I would receive feedback that was positive and recognizing my potential, however, my verbal feedback would be my ambition is too great and that I need to earn my stripes in the insurance industry.
This industry culture has been frustrating to say the least, when in other industries there is at least the potential/ability to have a “Fast Track” career path or trajectory appears to be easier accomplished. As millennials – we grew up in a time (the technological/information revolution), when information, gratification, feedback and results are much quicker/faster than prior generations – this was admittedly a tough virtue to aspire for – Patience.
Everything in my life leading up to my career suggested patience was complacence.
The good news is that I am finally starting to recognize the value in Patience in my Insurance Career. Things are going well and really starting to see the payoff in this strategy, in all areas of my life – personal, professional, etc.
The bad news and time will tell if the advice was the the right advice? What was my opportunity cost from listening to this advice?
The Insurance industry seems to be in a defensive position of the threat of InsurTech. And with the threat of InsurTech approaching the industry, I sometimes wonder…why was I told to wait and be patient? Could I have helped address this problem earlier?
I could have helped advance the digital distribution platform of any company I worked for in the industry. All I needed was the chance to succeed and be empowered to solve the problem…
The shift to online insurance procurement didn’t happen overnight, but there is a generation of consumers who fit into my “Millennial Generation” classification and understanding the needs/interests of this generation, might be better solved by someone in their demographic.
Now I don’t know how long it will take for this disruption to occur, but for those of us waiting Patiently like we were told, I hope it doesn’t backfire.
Sometimes the advice and lecturing of prior generations is more about “follow what I did” vs. this is what you will need in the future to succeed. Luckily for me I have done pretty well in the industry, via salaries/bonuses, and passive income streams so I feel comfortable thus far – but what about other people my age? Where will the advice of be patient lead them?
Time will tell and I guess we will have to be patient to find out…
For any other Insurance millennials out there who want to comment, please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks.
